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Islanders rally, defeat Devils in shootout

Josh Bailey scored in the second period and again in the fifth round of the shootout to lead the Islanders to a 3-2 victory against the New Jersey Devils at Nassau Coliseum.

Kinkaid, who grew up an Islanders fan about 30 minutes to the east in Farmingville, N.Y., made 31 saves through overtime and went 3-for-5 in the shootout. But it wasn't enough to help the Devils get a second point in the standings.

Kinkaid has played in five games this season, but Monday was his second shootout in six nights; after making 37 saves through overtime last Tuesday, Kinkaid allowed back-to-back shootout goals against Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at Prudential Center.

"I didn't make a save in the other shootout, but definitely I think we had a few chances to win," said Kinkaid, who had more than 50 family members and friends in the crowd. "I wanted to squeeze that last one, [Bailey] made a nice move and put it the opposite way I was sliding. I think [it was] a great effort overall by the guys. We've got to take that into the next game."

Matt Martin scored midway through the third period for the Islanders (21-10-0), who are off until they visit the Detroit Red Wings on Friday. New York is 9-0 in games that go beyond regulation, including a League-best 6-0 in shootouts.

"We try not to focus on it too much. I think we're obviously confident in those situations," Bailey said. "I think in overtime we've found a way to get some wins and then in shootouts, we've got a lot of guys that are great shooters in those situations. Even guys that haven't had a chance to shoot yet, we have a lot of confidence and depth in those situations.

"Obviously it starts in goal. Jaro and [Chad Johnson] have done a great job in shootouts as well."

The Devils opened the scoring on Zidlicky's power-play goal 12:15 into the game. With Anders Lee serving an interference penalty, Zidlicky took a pass from Gomez and put a slap shot from the point through a screen and past Halak for his fourth goal of the season.

Gomez increased New Jersey's lead with his second goal in as many games at 15:20. Gomez, who entered with four points in seven games, tried to send a pass to Jaromir Jagr from along the right-wing boards, but it deflected off a group of players in front and past Halak to make it 2-0. It was Jagr's 77th point (28 goals, 49 assists) in 53 games at Nassau Coliseum.

Bailey cut the Devils' lead in half 1:51 into the second period. Moments after a hooking penalty to Jagr expired, Strome sent a pass from behind the net out in front to Bailey, who one-timed it past Kinkaid from between the circles to make it 2-1. It was Bailey's fifth goal of the season.

Kinkaid made his best save of the game six minutes into the third period when he got his right pad on Matt Donovan's wrist shot from the right circle. Donovan was left all alone in the right circle as coinciding penalties against Tavares and Seth Helgeson were expiring.

"A young guy like that, you just want to let him play," Devils coach Peter DeBoer said of Kinkaid. "You don't want to pile too much pressure on him or give him too much information, and that's what he did tonight. To his credit he came out and played a [heck] of a game."

But the Islanders tied it on Martin's goal with 9:15 remaining. Martin cruised down the right wing, received a nice pass from Casey Cizikas and beat Kinkaid with a wrist shot from the right circle to make it 2-2. It was Martin's fourth goal of the season.

"We've been getting off to slow starts lately and didn't play very well in the first period," Martin said. "We came in here [after the first period] and kind of regrouped and played a hard 40 minutes, the way we need to play and took over the game."

The Devils got a power play with 1:49 left when Tavares slashed Zidlicky, but the Islanders managed to force overtime. They outshot New Jersey 13-7 in the third period.

"The fact that we didn't stand around [helped]," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said of the penalty kill, which is ranked 30th in the NHL. "We won the faceoff on Zidlicky's goal and again, we don't play the puck. The puck's on our hockey stick, we don't box out, we don't win the line of scrimmage and they score a goal.

"As it went on, we just made a decision that if they got another power play that we were gonna add a little pressure down ice and we were gonna add some pressure in the zone. We were fortunate to kill it, so hopefully that will give us confidence moving forward. There was still a lot of time left there, under two minutes left in the game for them to get that opportunity."

New York received a man-advantage in overtime when Gomez tripped Bailey along the left-wing boards in the Devils' zone with 2:43 left. Kinkaid kept the game tied with 1:13 to go when he gloved Okposo's wrist shot from the left circle.

Bailey had a semi-breakaway in the closing seconds, but his wrist shot went off Kinkaid's mask to send the game to a shootout.

Despite the loss, Kinkaid won't forget the night anytime soon. After years of watching games at the Coliseum from the stands (his father is a former Islanders season-ticket holder), he was able to play there against the team he rooted for as a child.

"In between the TV timeouts, I could see some of my friends," Kinkaid said. "Some were behind the bench. It's a good feeling. They're rooting for me. I think I saw a few of them when we scored. They stood up. They're [more] Rangers than Islanders fans, so it's good to see. It was a fun atmosphere and definitely a memorable game."